ducati test ride v. I'm screwed.

I'm house sitting for my friend Jack this weekend, and part of the payment is I get to ride his Ducati...

Jack's ride? A red Monster S2R 1000.

This bike and I have history. See, the Ducati Monster was the bike that started me down the path to two wheels. The original Monster was the first motorcycle that made everything click into place when I was a kid and made me knew that some day I would ride. It only took about 10 years for it to happen and I ended up on a completely bike, but I never stopped liking the monster.

Now, keep in mind that this motorcycle has more power than my old DRZ and probably both the WR250R combined. All I've ever ridden was thumpers, save the CB250 I took the MSF on.

I have to admit, I'm afraid of this motorcycle. Not afraid of the performance though, I'm afraid of riding the bike I more or less dreamed of for the better part of a decade before getting pulled into dirt stuff and loving it. I'm also, more so, afraid of hating it, of it not living up to the expectations in my mind.

Turn the key, quickly press the starter, and let the beast warm up. As I'm gearing up, I go over the basic route I'm trying to take in my head so that I can adequately test the bike out and to make sure I don't get too far from home in case something happens, and try not to think about the possible consequences of dropping it...

The seating position is far more cramped and the Monster is much wider than I'm used to, but still relatively comfortable. I'd need to do something about the bars if it was mine... I'm surprised by how much noise the transmission make and how hefty all of the controls are, but after thunking into 1st gear and slowly letting out the surprisingly smooth clutch I'm off.

Steering is waaaay heavier than I'm used to. It takes a few miles for me to get used to the different front end feeling, this thing takes some muscling to get over. I noticed pretty quickly that how I'm sitting affects comfort and handling significantly more on this than it does on my bike, and.... holy berkeley I'm doing 80! The grunt on this thing is deceptive and impressive to me. I rode it for about an hour on all kinds of side roads, back roads, some interstate, and some in-town stuff and quickly started to fall in love... and quickly realized that I'd either end up deaded or in jail w/o a license in pretty short order on this thing. Its so easy to ride quickly, I start thinking about how much of my dirt gear I can sell off to afford one... then how much leathers and track days and tires etc are gonna cost....

berkeley.

I need to ride the WR250R again. Instantly I notice how effortless everything on this bike is, the clutch, the shifter, the brakes, all move with oily smoothness and with nary a thought (17,000+ miles on the same bike will do that I guess). I never really noticed just how damn light, narrow, and flickable dual sports are since I've never really ridden any other kind of street bike. I also really never quit appreciated how berkeleying slow this thing is in the motorcycle world. Its still fun though, in its own way. If these were cars, the WR250R is a Miata that likes to get dirty and the Ducati reminded me a lot of a Boxster S with a soul and waaaaay more fun.

berkeley. I can't afford two motorcycles. I don't have room for two motorcycles. But now I realize that I need two motorcycles. http://forums.clubsi.com/images/graemlins/default/willy_nilly.gif

So uh... are there any sport bikes that are livable day to day that won't kill a newb on the track? I think I'd be happy with the monster with a few tweaks, but as I haven't followed (moto) road racing at all I have no idea how they are on track or if there's a class for them.

Ninja 250/500?

Just to get it out of the way, I know its the proper way to learn but another 250 isn't scratching this itch.

SV650, the poor man's Monster. It's easy to handle, fun to ride, and cheap to maintain. Sometimes I wish that I bought the Monster 750 that I saw for sale before I got the SV then I remember that I don't have to worry about expensive maintenance or someone messing with my bike because it is "expensive" and exotic.

Monster M750?

Monster 900 as my first bike. Felt pretty firm until I rode a Hayabusa. Jeebus is that a tank! I'm getting over the exotic bit and just use it as my bike and go see my mechanic. Next 2009+ Yamaha R1

skierd wrote: Just to get it out of the way, I know its the proper way to learn but another 250 isn't scratching this itch.

Ok, sv650 then.

SV650, Ninja 650, or one of the smaller Monsters would be a pretty good choice. There's even a couple racing serieses that have long been dominated by SV650s, and it sounds like you've already got the basics of riding down.

Duc's are pretty, but have a hard time buying one. mainly because the maintenance is higher than the jap bikes I am use to.

Opus wrote: Duc's are pretty, but have a hard time buying one. mainly because the maintenance is higher than the jap bikes I am use to.

notably frequent valve adjustments...

I have a duc super sport which almost has the same engine , there is not much to maintain. I do valve adjustment due every 8k miles which cost 150 bucks at dealer or my local dealer will swap shims for free if i do them myself.and a timing belt done at the same time which is simple to do yourself. The air cooled engine takes some of the complexity out .

I think I'm going to see how my dirt rides this month goes and decide on keeping the WRR or not. I think I'm just gonna find a used monster and get the bike I've always wanted.

buy mine. I just put my Monster S4 up for sale. PM me for details.

jefmed2 wrote: I have a duc super sport which almost has the same engine , there is not much to maintain. I do valve adjustment due every 8k miles which cost 150 bucks at dealer or my local dealer will swap shims for free if i do them myself.and a timing belt done at the same time which is simple to do yourself. The air cooled engine takes some of the complexity out .

I had the original Monster 900 (1994) and had the same experience. Everyone talked about frequent and expensive valve adjustments. First valve adjustment; two hours shop time and half of that was me asking questions as the tech/shop owner was teaching me how to do it.

I have a Buell 1125R now. For what H-D was giving these away for, I couldn't not get one. I feel sorry for the guys that got in before the rebates.